Good News for the Neighborhood

The Duke Endowment has contributed $527,500 to support programs of the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership. The money will help underwrite several of the partnership's priorities, including affordable-housing initiatives and extensive after-school tutoring and enrichment programs for at-risk youth.

Begun in 1996, the partnership connects the university with local organizations and residents in twelve neighborhoods close to campus to improve the quality of life and to boost student achievement in seven nearby Durham public schools. Since the partnership's inception, the university has raised more than $12 million to support neighborhood-partnership programs, of which more than $4 million has been provided by The Duke Endowment, the Charlotte-based charitable trust.

Over the past year, the partnership has undertaken a strategic planning process that established four thematic areas as priorities for investment: education enrichment and youth development, neighborhood stabilization, strengthening community organizations, and university management. The focus on the thematic areas gives the partnership more flexibility, says Michael Palmer, Duke's assistant vice president for community affairs, and "will allow us to have a greater impact."